The Abyss behind the Painting
by Grace0331
Summary: Alice, for the first time in her life, visits an Art Gallery. She was happy, until she noticed that all the people disappeared and she was left alone in a very unusual gallery. Walking statues, talking paintings and creepy dolls were after her. Will Alice be able to get out alive of this 'Abyssal World? Who is going to help her? (PH version of Ib) (Break/Alice/Gilbert) AU
1. Chapter 1

**Hello there!~ I'm here with yet another story, which is going to be Pandora Hearts related too. Buuuuut this os going to be a crossover! With PH and Ib the greatest horror indie RPG I've ever played! But I couldn't help but wonder how much it reminded me of PH. Soooo, here! A Pandora Hearts version of Ib. The plot in general will be the same, but I'll add more events, characters and background for them. Also, the ending will be.. Different. Not gonna spoil anything. . Now Garry, c'mere and do the disclaimer!**

**Garry: "Why should I?"**

**Grace0331: "I'll give you macaroons!"**

**Garry: "That is.. Tempting.. All right then, Grace0331 doesn't own in anyway Ib or Pandora Hearts, nor the main plot for this story. Just the details and the idea for everything else."**

**Grace0331: "Good boy, now here! Take these macaroons!"**

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"Hey Alice." A white haired man with amethyst eyes held the girl's hand. He kept staring at her noticing her puffing cheeks as if she was waiting for something big to happen.

"What, Levi?" The thirteen years old girl squeezed the man's hand as they entered the famous gallery everyone kept talking about.

"Are you excited?" Levi smiled kindly and brightly at the girl's cute face. Alice had amethyst eyes, much like Levi, yet different and long brown hair with the sides turning a little on the outside, giving the idea of cat ears. Normally she didn't style her hair, but this time she had made two little braids on each side of her face.

"Sure 'am!" Alice replied in a boyish way, making the white haired man frown.

"Please Alice, don't talk like that. It's not lady like." His amethyst eyes travelled to the girl's features and he smiled when she pouted.

"Sorry.. It's just that, you know, I've never really visited any place besides my home, which technically doesn't count." The girl looked down and hugged with her free hand the stuffed black rabbit that wore a diamond patterned red jacket with a big white bow.

Levi looked a little troubled, but then an idea lit his mind. "Why don't you start exploring this place by yourself for the time being? Glen has quite a few works of art to look at you know. In the meantime, I'll be here checking in. Okay?"

Alice's eyes lit up immediately and started running away, when she suddenly heard the receptionist call out to her. "Miss! I'm sorry but dolls or stuffed animals are not allowed, so if you please, leave it here on the desk." Alice scowled, she didn't want anyone beside herself or Levi be near her dear bunny and she certainly couldn't leave 'him' with a stranger!

"No."

Levi sighed with a troubled look, he wasn't very good at dealing with children, that's why he never bothered about having a real family. "Alice, don't be rude and just leave Oz here. They're not going to eat it."

Alice frowned again and looked at Oz. She hugged him one more time before putting him on the desk. She trusted Levi so maybe they weren't going to do anything to Oz. "You better not do anything bad to Oz or I'll kick you!" The receptionist looked a little intimidated by the look Alice was giving him, while Levi just sighed in defeat.

"Alice please behave! You're in an art gallery and you shouldn't be rude." He hit her lightly on the head, but actually it looked more like a pat then a hit.

"Is she your daughter mister? She's very cute!" A female receptionist came this time, and she was squealing at Alice's irritated face.

Levi was about to say 'No she's not', but Alice cut in before leaving. "I don't have a father nor a mother." With that she left in a hurry, leaving two surprised receptionists and a sad Levi behind. 'Alice..'

In the meantime Alice had already explored half of the gallery. She had looked at a lot of things, paintings, sculptures and other various things. Alice was wondering if the gallery was endless, when a picture caught her attention. It looked dark, with five different black birds with one of them being very creepy. She noticed that in line were a picture for each bird. The first one was a big black lion like bird, 'The Gryphon'. In the second one was painted a bird with a strange looking beak, called 'Dodo'. Then there was a big bird with very big eyes called 'Owl'. Alice was going to look at the next one, but a young man, in his early twenties, was blocking her way.

Alice tried to gain his attention with a coughing fit, but he didn't respond. So she poked his left arm. Still no response. Alice started twitching in irritation so she finally called out in a loud tone, making the man's attention fall on her.

"You're blocking the way and I can't see anything." The black haired man said a curt 'sorry' and left after giving her a piercing yellow stare. "What a weird guy. And what weird hair he had." Alice shrugged and proceeded looking at the picture in front of her. There was a big black crow that looked like it was staring at her. A shiver went down her spine as Alice wondered what could be so interesting to watch such a scary bird called 'Raven' with such an amazement. She decided to continue onto the next picture which was something she regretted. The final bird, that only God knows if he IS a bird, called 'Jabberwocky' gave her such a scare, she ran away from that place.

"This Glen guy must have some serious problems.." Muttering, Alice turned a corridor and noticed a big painting. There was a word she didn't understand followed by 'World'. That caught the brown haired girl's attention and she stared at it as if it was sucking her in.

Alice's eyes started burning, so she blinked several times. Then the lights went out. It wasn't completely dark, but since she was alone in a dark corridor she felt insecure. Then she started walking to the direction she came from, but nobody was there.

'I'm pretty sure this is the same way I came from. I mean, the pictures and sculptures are the same.. But then why did the people who were here just a minute ago disappear..?' Alice glanced around her to grasp any sign of life but found none. Then she decided to go to the reception desk to see if Levi was there. But even there people had disappeared.

"Levi?" No answer. "Levi!" Still no answer. Fear started taking over Alice. She was alone in a dark art gallery. Alice screamed and shouted, but she had no answer. Just were did everybody go..?

Then an idea hit Alice. She still had Oz! She could just take it back from the reception desk and she'd feel less lonely right? So Alice searched and searched in the dark for her stuffed rabbit. He was nowhere to be found. Alice felt tears form in her eyes, but she wiped them away.

"I just have to go to that strange painting again I suppose!" Alice had no idea why she thought that, but she still felt something lead her back there. She climbed the stairs again, but when she was about to walk close to a window she noticed a shadow behind it. "Um, is anyone there..?" But the shadow was gone. So she stepped closer to take a better look at it.

*BAM BAM BAM*

Alice jumped back and the color on her face had drained away.

"That.. THING JUST SLAPPED THE STUPID WINDOW AND IT SCARED THE LOVING HELL OUT OF ME!" Alice ran away from the strange window just to stop in front of a painting of a beautiful young girl. She looked the same age as Alice, but her pose made her look like a grown woman. Alice locked her amethyst eyes with the ruby pink ones the girl on the picture had. She had a beautiful smile on her lips that made her look really angelic.

Alice's eyes widened. Did she just imagine the giggling that came from the painting? What was wrong with her and the stupid gallery?! She walked away again, but she didn't notice the ruby pink eyes following her every move.

After witnessing some VERY weird things such as a fruit falling out of a painting, another one sneezing or coughing she got to where all these strange things started happening. From the painting some green paint dripped on the wall and Alice brushed it gently, just to notice words written in green.

"Come down below Alice" she read the sentence out loud and narrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Then suddenly on the floor were written "COME" "COME ALICE" and stuff like that.

"What the.. What is wrong with this gallery?!" She shouted to no one in particular and ran down to the reception desk. Where could this 'below' be? After looking around for a while, Alice noticed another corridor and she followed the path. Gasping, Alice looked at the biggest painting she had ever seen! And it was on the floor! The motive in the painting made her speechless and she approached the painting. She gulped all the feelings of creepiness the painting gave her and inspected it closely. There was a white rabbit drawn there, with huge crazed eyes and a grin with blood dripping out of it's mouth.

The sight was really creepy for Alice, but when she noticed footsteps going IN the picture she wondered if there was a secret passage and everybody had gone there. In Alice's eyes shone a light of hope and she started climbing down the invisible stairs.

Shortly after, Alice noted that there really was a secret passage. In front of her was a wall and there were two ways to go. 'Right or left? Left or right..?" She narrowed her eyebrows and after doing innie-minnie-moe she went left. There was a dead end though. Alice sighed in frustration, but she took notice that there was a door on the wall, that was blocked by a table with a vase on. There was a beautiful red rose in the vase and Alice had the urge to take it. And so she did.

After pushing the table out of the way she opened the door and entered a room with a big painting of a girl with short white hair, which strangely fell out of the painting. She looked serious, with empty gray eyes. Alice had a bad feeling, like she wanted to get out of the room. Apart of the painting, she didn't notice anything useful. So she was going to leave when her eyes fell on a key on the floor. She decided to take it, but as soon as she got hold of it, something in the room changed.

It suddenly was cold and when she looked up, Alice's eyes widened. The girl's name that once was 'Echo' was turned into 'Noise' and her eyes were crazed and wide with a grin making the features much more creepier. Alice swallowed hard and ran out of the room. As soon as she stepped in the corridor there on the floor was written 'Thief' everywhere. Tears stung Alice's eyes. She felt alone and was scared. So she decided to go upstairs and hopefully find there everyone else.

But it wasn't her lucky day. Where the stairs once were, now was a wall and no matter how hard Alice kicked it, it looked like it wasn't going to fall as a fake wall anytime soon.

"What is going on? I swear there were stairs here just a while ago!" She scratched the back of her head and sighed in irritation. "Damn it Levi! Where the hell are you?!" Alice felt like crying again, but instead she remained strong and decided to continue the path in front of her. But she had the feeling things would get even worse.

Alice gasped when she saw a human figure, probably a teen boy with blonde hair standing at the end of the corridor. She started running after him, but he was running very fast too. "Wait! Don't go!" Alice kept running, without noticing a single red eye following her.

The person or thing, hidden in the shadows grinned. "This is the girl..? She's going to be very happy..!" And with that, he disappeared.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello my fellow readers! We're back to "The Abyss Behind the Painting"! I know I haven't updated in sooooo long but bear with me. I had to replay Ib to get the parts right.. And also, I'm trying to get this story short, but it's hard! T.T Ok, I don't have much time, so, Enjoy!**

**Thanks to all the people who reviewed, they make me inspired! ^_^ **

**Disclaimer: Grace0331 doesn't own (and never will) neither Pandora Hearts nor Ib. All the rights belong to their respective owners.**

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"Hey! *Pant* I told you *Pant* to stop!" Alice reached her hand towards the blond boy, she was almost catching him when...

... The boy stopped and turned around to face Alice. That resulted in Alice bumping on the guy's chest. She would lose her balance if it wasn't for the boy who balanced her by putting his hands on her shoulders. Alice rubbed her nose, the guy didn't look as strong as he really was. Proof of this were the still-developing muscles on his chest. She was going to look up and shout at the youth, but stopped when she saw his face. "Are you alright, Alice?"

Alice's amethyst eyes stared into the blond's emerald eyes, she was unable to move. "Who... Who are you? How.. Do you know my name..?" Alice felt kinda strange. The boy in front of her looked like someone awfully familiar and so close to her.

The boy smiled at the shorter girl. "I'm Oz." Those simple words hit Alice like a lightning. Oz? What?

"You.. Can't be.. Oz..? Oz is.. My best friend.." She looked down and started thinking about Oz and where could he be. After a moment she felt tears streaming down her face. "I... Was careless.. I lost Oz.. Now I won't be able to hug him again.." The more she thought about Oz the more she sobbed.

The young boy who claimed to be Oz had stopped smiling, he wrapped his arms around the brunette's back and rubbed it with one of his arms. "Don't cry Alice, I'm here."

Alice felt warmness wash over her, the same warmness she felt when she hugged Oz. "How.. How is it possible you're a human?" The boy raised her chin and grinned.

"Because this dimension is dangerous about my little Alice and I cannot bear to think what dangerous things can happen to her!~" His sing-song voice and -affectionate- words didn't amuse Alice. At all.

So what's Alice's method of releasing her frustration? A kick, of course. She kicked Oz, thankfully, on the knee and he bent down with painful groans. "Don't you ever call me that again! I'm not little! And you didn't even tell me the real answer!"

The boy put up a smile and got up. "I am a human here because this place is not your world. This is a world where only fabricated objects, paintings or more can live." Alice's confused face made Oz frown. "But this is not a safe place, sadly. I don't really know why you even got to the conjunction between this abyss and the real world."

As Oz grabbed his chin and started analyzing the situation, Alice decided to bug in. "There was a blackout in the gallery, and when the lights came again, there was no trace of all the people who were visiting the art gallery." She waited his response, and Oz nodded for her to go on. "Then strange things started happening. I went back to that big painting, the.. I don't remember it's name.. It was something that ended with 'World'.. Anyway, I noticed this green paint dripping from the painting and I brushed it with my hand." Alice showed Oz her hand, which was covered with the green paint mentioned earlier.

The blond boy chuckled at her cute gesture, she acted like a kid sometimes, even though she was already a teen. "What happened next, Alice?"

The girl blushed with an embarrassed look on her face, but shrugged and went on with her little 'adventure'. "Suddenly there was written 'COME DOWN BELOW ALICE' on the wall and all over the floor. So I went below and noticed some green footprints going in the gigantic rabbit picture. After I climbed down the stairs, I found a red rose and a key. But I wonder who put those footsteps and writings in the gallery..?" The petite brunette looked down, trying to think hard on who could it be that put up all those signs for her.

"Oh, that was me." The blond said as a matter of fact, with a proud look on his face. Alice, on the other hand, stood there with a dumbfounded look on her face. "Huh? What's wrong Alice?"

"YOU IDIOT! WHY THE HELL DID YOU PUT UP ALL OF THOSE SIGNS SO I CAME TO A GOD DAMNED PLACE LIKE THIS?!" While saying those things she had grabbed poor Oz by the collar and was shaking him violently. Oz tried to struggle but Alice was far stronger than she looked. After a while, Alice calmed down and released Oz, but the latter was trying desperately to breathe.

"A.. Lice.." Alice looked at Oz again, amused with the look of pain he was giving. "I can't.. Breathe.. *cough* *hack* *cough* I.." Alice now was starting to get worried, she did use some force, but not as much as to choke someone to that state. "need CPR.. Or I'll disappear.."

The amethyst eyed girl was extremely worried now. She didn't want her dear friend to feel that much pain, imagine how she'd feel if he disappeared! "Wh-what can I do to help you? What's CPR?"

Oz coughed again. "You.. Have.. To.. Breath.. Into me.. With a *cough* kiss..." Alice froze in her place. Did he say kiss? Like, the ones in those stupid fairy tales Levi used to tell her when she was little, where the charming prince kissed the sleeping beauty and she suddenly woke up? No. She wasn't going to do that.

"The prince is supposed to kiss the girl and not the girl her bunny!" Alice tried stubbornly to refuse the kiss, but Oz's pale face made her heart ache. "Fine.." Blushing, she took a deep breath and kissed him. She gave him air, once, twice, so on and on.. Then Oz coughed again and smiled weakly at the girl.

As Alice waited proudly for her thanks from the blond, she twitched when she heard him laughing instead. "I got a kiss from Alice!~ I'm happy now!~" The brunette looked at him with wide eyes. So he used her?!

"Oz..." Alice looked down slowly and a dark, scary aura formed around her. Oz saw that, and he tried to explain but Alice heard none of that. "How dare you take my first kiss like that!"

After taking some kicks and punches from the younger girl, he finally caught her so she couldn't move. "Alice let me explain." The girl was irritated, she struggled and when she saw she couldn't move, she glared daggers at the emerald eyed boy. Sensing that that was the signal she gave, he continued. "I didn't lie when I said I'd disappear. You see, this is a different dimension from yours, here, living people like you could easily die. I told you to kiss me in an indirect way, because I knew you would never kiss me otherwise. See, the kiss was a way so a part of my soul would go into you, for example, look at yourself now."

The girl lazily looked down, gasping when she noticed what she was wearing. "How? These are your clothes! I mean, in your bunny form!" Alice looked with a confused expression at the red diamond patterned jacket and big white bow. She was also wearing a short black skirt, white laced boots and white gloves.

Oz looked with a knowing look at Alice and grinned as he explained the situation. "That's the part of soul I gave you, everyone here has a connection of some sort with a thing that person loves, so the object takes life and forms a kind of contract with their humans. For instance, you Alice are my human and I am your stuffed rabbit. You love me and I love you too, so our bond is very special, that's why we had to kiss to form the contract. Other people that come here can make contracts with a painting or sculpture they see, it doesn't matter, they just have to be attracted to the picture. Other objects have their own way of contracting with people, this was mine."

The girl's eyebrows narrowed even more. "It's kinda hard to get it all in at once. But now that I kissed you, you won't disappear, right?" Alice looked at him with hopeful eyes, she didn't really like to be alone in that place.

Much to her dismay, the older looking boy shook his head with a sad expression on his face. "I'm sorry Alice, this is as much as I go."

Alice's amethyst eyes widened in surprise and worry. "Why? Aren't you supposed to be with me all the time since we have a special bond?" The blond sighed.

"I'm sorry, really. But even if our bond is that special I'm not related to the gallery so I can't stay much in here." When he saw that the brunette was trying to protest he cut her sentence. "But remember that a part of my soul is with you so you'll be able to use my powers." The girl looked down, meanwhile she tried to hide the tears stinging in her eyes. Oz smiled a sad smile. He really did want to stay with Alice, protect her, chat with her, and all the things he couldn't do when he was just a stuffed rabbit.

Suddenly he was surrounded by glow, his skin, clothes and everything were fading. "Oz! Are you going already?!" She tried hugged him, but it was obvious that he was fading. "I don't want to be alone again.." As she felt his touch fading more and more, she saw a watch swaying in front of her. "What's that..?"

Oz opened her palm and dropped the golden pocket watch on it. "Take care of this. Your mother gave it to me long ago. "Alice's eyes widened slightly. "It's a pocket watch. My time ended so I don't need it. But you might need it anyway. Bye Alice." He waved at her and Alice just saw him unable to think quickly.

"My mother..? Oz, you knew my mother?!" He was fading more and more. She tried to hug him one more time as if trying to not let him go away. "Don't go Oz! Please!" Just a moment longer.. It was indeed just a moment longer. He had faded and Alice felt like she was hugging just air. "Oz.." She looked at the watch. "Did mother really gave this to Oz..?" No, she refused to believe it. Her mom was dead when she was born. She never met her, and never could. So how could Oz meet her? It was bullcrap. All bullcrap.

So she threw the watch on the floor hoping it would break. But it did not. Instead, the pocket watch had opened and there was a beautiful melody playing. "This melody.. It feels.. Nostalgic.." The beautiful melody made more tears fill up her eyes, and she could no longer hold them back. She felt like she actually met her mother before, in her dreams. Alice took the opened pocket watch and closed it, giving an end to the emotion-twisting melody. "I.. Guess I have to get going now.."

Slowly she got up on her feet, wiped her tears and started walking down the corridor. At the end Alice noticed a door, a blue door. Sighing when she saw she couldn't open it, she had an idea. "What about that blue key that I found earlier..?" Alice looked in her pocket and after searching for a while, she found it with a smile on her face. So after unlocking the door, she stepped into a different room.

In the new room Alice noticed a path in front of her, and one in her right. She decided to go right and along the way noticed different bug paintings. Then suddenly... "Hey, girl!" Alice looked around surprised, it was a tiny voice, but she couldn't notice any other person beside herself in the room. "I'm down here!" The little voice spoke again, and this time Alice looked down just to notice a tiny bug.

"Is that you..? But you're an ant! How can you talk?!" The girl stared at the talking ant incredulously while the latter did what appeared to be a sigh.

"Of course it's me. And it's not nice to ask someone how do they talk. I should be asking you too why can a stupid girl like you talk.

A vein popped on Alice's forehead, that little thing was getting on her nerves already. Oh how she wanted to crush that creature. "What do you want?" Alice asked, glaring at the ant.

"I'm looking for my ant picture, but I can't find it. So why don't you stop staying like a lazy bum and instead help me find it?"

"Why should I help you to find it?"

"If you do I'll tell you a secret." The offer seemed nice to Alice. She wondered what could that secret be? After accepting the offer, she decided to go on looking.

Alice went on with the path she had chosen earlier, stepping into a corridor with other paintings, but there wasn't any of any ant. Sighing, she decided to enter a room at the left of the dead end. Thankfully, the door opened but when she entered she noticed there was a huge, deep gap she couldn't pass. Therefore she had to go back all the way to where she meet the ant and try the other path. On this new path, a column was blocking, with a board that wrote "BEWARE OF EDGES". Alice read that aloud and narrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "What does this mean? Well.. I may as well be aware of the edges.." As she said that, Alice tried to avoid staying near the edges, but just when she thought nothing was going on..

"ARGH!" A hand came out from one edge and tried to grab Alice!

"WAGH! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" She stared at the arm that was moving around, looking as if trying to find Alice. Alice sweat-dropped, and gulped down her fright, and just continued walking down the corridor. As she expected, some other arms came out of the walls too, but Alice wasn't scared of them, just a bit startled. After getting out of the corridor, she noticed immediately the ant painting! "Yes! Finally! Yes!" She removed the ant painting and carried it with her, but not before noticing a green door that needed a key to open. Shrugging, she walked down the corridor again and met the ant. "Oi, was this the picture you were talking about?"

The ant looked up, and nodded. "Yes! I really am such a wonderful insect.. And this picture is as cool as I remember it.." The little ant stared at the picture and Alice decided to use it as a bridge, but first, she had to know the secret.

"I brought you the picture. Now tell me the secret." Her amethyst eyes stared at the little creature, as she waited excitedly for the secret.

The ant hesitated at first, but then told her. "Our master, Glen, is not the same person as he was 100 hundred years ago or more years ago. You see, Glen is just a cover for the actual person. So, Glen is someone with artistic talent, that is known by a previous Glen or so. I don't know much about the previous Glens, since I've been drawn by the current Glen. The previous Glen has made the most compact in this gallery, as he has created a lot of works. Also, the previous Glen has made a picture of the Glen before him and his sister. I think they were lovers or married. I don't know much. I just know that the current Glen is young and doesn't draw much. I'm an exception. He prefers reading some books and has even drawn some pictures related to a book. Also, there is a "Room of Liars" later on. There's only one truth-speaker and it's his friend. I think he's supposed to say the answer to the truth you'll eventually need."

Alice looked at the ant and shrugged. "Thanks." With that, she went to block the gap that blocked her from going on. After putting the painting down, she crossed it, just to hear a cracking sound. Her amethyst eyes went wide when she saw the ant, crushed and bloody. "How can this.. Happen..?" Gulping, she decided to ignore the painting and entered another room.

In this new plain and empty room, there stood only a statue and a key. The statue was standing in front of the key, and looked almost human like. It definitely was a woman, with pink hair and pink eyes, busty and wearing a red dress. Alice firstly stared at her smiling face, expecting that something was about to happen like with the painting in the first room. She grabbed the key, her eyes still fixated on the statue's face.

"WRAGHR!"

Alice jumped on her feet when the statue suddenly grinned and walked towards her. Alice immediately ran away from the room and closed the door. She crossed the crushed ant painting and watched as the statue opened the door and growled when it saw the painting had a hole from Alice passing twice. Alice sighed in relief and got out of the room. She had a green key now, so she went to open the green door.

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**Ok peeps, this is it. I wanted it to be longer but at the moment I'm in Vienna's airport and I'm about to get on the airplane to London so I really don't have time. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I promise that in the next one our dear "Raven" will appear! Don't forget to review! Thanks for reading!**


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